SPORTS

After watching my twin brother complete a half IRON MAN (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) I don't feel quite as tough saying I've run a marathon. In addition, I thought about all the different sports played between me, Jason, and sister Kelly (through the years): soccer, basketball, football, tennis, golf, softball, volleyball, track, running, swimming, biking and baseball. Because our family has been so "into" sports over the years, I feel qualified in adding this editorial note: The religion with the most adherents in America is not Christianity--it's sports.

Best Athletes

1. Basketball (a 6'10" man has no business being able to dribble a basketball)

2. Football

3. Track and Field

Toughest Performers

1. Rugby

2. Triathletes

3. Football/Hockey

Most Endurance

1. Soccer

2. Marathoners

3. Hockey/Swimmer (that was for Kara)

Toughest Thing To Do in Sports

1. Hit a 90 mph fastball.

2. Golf (if you've ever played, you know what I'm saying).

3. Catch a ball over the middle in football while a stud is about to drop you flat.

Coach Meyer, Cass Park

If you have not seen this clip, you need to watch it. Coach Don Meyer (formerly from Lipscomb) was honored at the prestigious ESPY AWARDS Sunday night. This is vintage Coach Meyer.

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The Detroit News did a little story on the work we've been doing in Cass Park for the last four years.

Best Sports Cities

We interrupt the deep philosophical/spiritual/political questions of the day to ask a really important question: what are the best sports cities in the United States? We all have different criteria (of which I'll have more to say) . . . I am curious to hear from all of you who live as far west as California and as far south Texas.

What are your top five sports cities?

Here are mine (NOTE: I'll provide detailed reasons in a later post).

5. Pittsburgh (not Dallas)

4. New York

3. Boston

2. Chicago

1. Detroit (I'm a homer, I admit it)

If you live west of the Mississippi River, you probably aren't happy with this list (don't forget though you got one city in Dallas). If you live in the Southeast (as many of my Nashville/Atlanta/Carolina friends will point out), you aren't happy with this list either.

Fire Away. What are the top five cities for sports fans?

Mid-Week Ramblings

I never like to be away from home (read: Kara) for more than a few days . . . however . . .

My time in Atlanta at Columbia Theological Seminary has been wonderful. I'm in a class right now with pastors/thinkers from all over the United States (California, New Jersey, North Dakota, Alabama, Georgia, Florida) and the entire world (Taiwan, South Africa, and Korea).

We cover every denomination in Protestant faith: Churches of Christ, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal, etc. We're realizing that as different as we are (and we are different!) our struggle is the same because all of us are trying to do ministry/think theologically in (mostly) the same stream: North America.

I just learned that my next course is slated to be with Walter Brueggemann, the Michael Jordan of Old Testament studies over the last thirty years.

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Some sports side notes:

*I can't believe the Lakers laid that size of an egg. Wow. I'm stunned.

*Marcus Thames, as Kara will attest, is a great player to root for. He's humble, likable, and just shows up and puts in the work. All he's done now is tie the Tigers record for consecutive home runs for hits.

*The trade rumor mills say Tayshaun and Chauncey for Carmello. If Denver is that dumb to do it, I think it's a great trade. Though, 'Mello and 'Sheed on the same team might be a recipe for disaster.

Kierkegaard and the NCAA Tourney

The Luke-Acts course I’m teaching this semester had to wrestle with this little ditty tonight from Soren Kierkegaard, whom scholars and preachers love to quote, “ . . . sermons should not be preached in churches. It harms Christianity in a high degree and alters its very nature, that it brought into artistic remoteness from reality, instead of being heard in the midst of real life, and that precisely for the sake of conflict (the collision). For all this talk about quiet, about quiet places and quiet hours, as the right element of Christianity, is absurd. So then sermons should not be preached in churches but in the street, in the midst of life, of the reality of daily life, weekday life.”

Is Kierkegaard right?

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Kansas/Carolina
Kansas
Duke/Texas
Duke
Kansas over Duke

Is Josh right?

Baseball, Adventure, and the Titanic

Three thoughts from the World Series. First, Boston won five of the first fifteen World Series at the onset of Major League Baseball. In the last eighty-nine years (or thereabouts) they’ve won a grand total of two. Second, from 2004 until present day, the losing team in the World Series has won a grand total of 1 game. The Red Sox swept the Cardinals in 2004. TheWhite Sox swept the Astros in 2005. The Cardinals won in five against the Tigers, and the Rex Sox swept the Rockies in 2007. That’s an amazing statistic. Last, why do we still call it a world championship, when a MLB, NBA, or NFL team wins their American championship? Is it truly a world championship?

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I viewed the film, Into the Wild, on Friday night. It’s an amazing film. It is a bit slow in parts but the story line is excellent. I wish I would’ve read the book first because the book is always, always, always, better than the movie (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Cold Mountain, Band of Brothers—just to name a few). My favorite line from the film, "I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau, 'Trust, forgiveness, passion, beauty, justice, reason are wonderful. I desire truth.'" That's my paraphrase.

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I remembered a sad but true story this weekend from my marathon training of two years ago. I was running in THE CRIM, a big race in the Flint area in prep for the 26.2 miles I was about to endure less than two months later. Upon the last major stretch of the ten mile race, I stumbled (not literally) upon a sad metaphor which captures the state of some of our American churches.

After several churches passed out water, food, gel boosters, etc, I came upon a church that decided during a grueling race that they would contribute to the running experience by blessing the runners with a barrage of hymns.

That’s right. No water, Gatorade, granola bar, or slice of an orange—this church brought “God is So Good” and “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.”

While others were meeting the needs, they brought hymns to the party.

I suppose that’s not completely bad for music is powerful. I simply wonder if that’s not a scary parallel to the way some churches still function. While divorce, H.I.V., S.T.D’s, depression, and poverty wage war, some stand on the top deck of the Titanic blessing each other with hymns.